Taliban, Daesh clash for control of Tora Bora

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Clashes have been ongoing between Taliban and Daesh gunmen for control of the Tora Bora cave complex in Pachirawgam district of eastern Nangarhar province, the governor said on Wednesday, quoting local residents.

Nangarhar governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal told a press conference at the Provincial Council office here that a number of families had fled to safety from Sulaimankhel area of Pachirawgam district due to the clash between Taliban and IS fighters.

He said security forces were on standby and would conduct raids in case Daesh advanced. About concerns the IS might take control of the cave complex, the governor said it was possible the group had planned capturing the previous Taliban’s stronghold.

Provincial council chief Ahmad Ali Hazrat also confirmed the clash between Taliban and Daesh militants in Tora Bora. He said if Daesh captured Tora Bora, it would threaten Nangarhar’s security.

The public representative asked the central government to launch a strong military operation against Daesh in Nangarhar and take steps towards ending the ongoing clash in Tora Bora.

A tribal elder from Pachirawgam distrdict, Malak Toor, said the clash between Taliban and Daesh gunmen was ongoing since yesterday in Suliamankhel area.

He said there were Daesh gunmen on one side and Taliban and uprising members on the other, but the Daesh fighters had positioned themselves one and a half kilometers from Tora Bora and they could easily reach the area in case of little resistance.

The governor’s spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, said seven fighters and two civilians had been so far in the ongoing clash.

He said local residents in Pachirawgam’s Sorai Kali, Jawdri, Saleh Baba Ziyarat and Wochi Lagdi villages clashed with Daesh fighters in cooperation with local security forces, killing five Daesh gunmen. Two uprising members were also killed in the clashes, he said.

Khogyani said the two militant groups had also clashed in some other mountainous areas, with Daesh suffering most of the casualties. He said two Taliban fighters had also been killed.

The official said hundreds of families had fled to other areas due to the clashes.

The two rival groups have so far not commented about their latest clashes.